The New York Rangers have been setting franchise records in droves over the past few weeks and their leading scorer, Mika Zibanejad, has been at the forefront of them all.
After recording their 100th point of the season in Sunday’s win over Washington, the Blueshirts recorded back-to-back 100-point seasons for just the third time in their franchise’s history. In doing so, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant became the first coach in team history to record back-to-back 100-point seasons in his first two years.
But a big reason for the team’s success in 2022-23 has been because of Zibanejad. The team’s leading scorer with 39 goals, Zibanead’s complete style of play has helped New York become one of the most complete teams in hockey this season – especially down the stretch.
The Rangers have won 10 of their last 14 games in their recent run and have secured a playoff berth for the second straight year. During their recent run of dominance, their Swedish center has recorded 16 total points. He’s set a new career high in points, and is just two goals shy of setting a new high in goals scored during a regular season.
Zibanejad’s impact goes far beyond the basic numbers though.
“Great player, 200 foot player. Doesn’t surprise me what he does.” Gallant told AMNY about his star player “He’s a great player and one of those guys that should be considered for the Selke (Award) ever year – especially the last two years.”
Who the former Senator’s product works with hasn’t really mattered this year either. Whether it’s Chris Kreider, Vladimir Tarasenko, members of the Kid Line or even Artemi Panarin, Zibanejad has produced in a way that has made him a superstar across the hockey landscape. His powerplay goal in Sunday’s win gave the Rangers an easy coast to the finish line but also was his 20th extra-man score of the season – the first time in the new millenium that a team has had two players post 20 powerplay goals in back-to-back seasons (Kreider recorded 20 last year).
Zibanejad and Panarin both have also set new marks of dominance in New York. They are the third pair of teammates in Rangers history to post consecutive 80-point campaigns following Rod Gilbert and Steve Vickers (1974-75 – 1975-76) as well as Gilbert and JeanRatelle (1971-72 – 1972-73).
As New York prepares for a potential deep playoff run, it’s easy to get lost in all the new career marks that are being set by the team this year. What hasn’t been taken away from it though has been the overwhelming dominance of their top forward in Mika Zibanejad.
In many ways, the Rangers go as Zibanejad does. With a championship or bust mentality going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they certainly have picked the right horse to follow.
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